HH4节译：Manachean联邦战争（4）
The Battle of Hive Ilium
Ilium巢都之战
The attack on Manachea when it came was both swift and executed with ruthless precision. Long had the Sons of Horus been famed as one of the Imperium's finest exponents of the decapitation strike; the sudden killing blow to an enemy's fighting power that makes victory all but inevitable. The attack on Manachea Vysidae was to be no exception to this, save that the throat to be cut was not simply a command post, an enemy general or even a great fortress, but an entire hive city.
对于Manachea的进攻是迅速且被准确执行的。长期以来，荷鲁斯之子军团都是作为帝国中最优秀的斩首进攻大师之一而著称；对于敌军的战斗部队进行突然的致命打击能让成功变为必然。对Manachea Vysidae的进攻也不例外，但荷鲁斯之子们要击溃的不仅是一间指挥所，一位敌军将领，甚至一座强大的堡垒，而是整座巢城。
In their plan of attack, the Sons of Horus assault fleet had aligned itself in a precise conical formation, a three-dimensional spear tip assault from space which presented the fleet's minimum aspect to the planet below, greatly reducing the potential hazard of ground fire to the attacking ships. Even so, Hive Ilium itself was well defended, with multiple reactor-fed laser batteries the equal of a battleship's main guns, banks of surface- to-air missile emplacements, and layered power field and void shield umbrellas over its most vital installations. As with any hive city, its sheer gargantuan scale was also a defence in itself, the inherent resilience of its titanic architecture as proof against violence as any purpose built fortification, while its thousands of kilometres of roadways and passages, habitation blocks, administration districts, manufactora, plazas and concourses, were a maze in which entire armies could be swallowed up whole. But to the Sons of Horus, such obstacles were the meat and drink of warfare, and to the master of the attacking fleet, none other than Ezekyle Abaddon, First Captain of his Legion, commanding the assault from the bridge of the battle barge King Eater, Ilium represented a prize he was determined to deliver to his Primarch as an emphatic victory.
在他们的进攻计划中，荷鲁斯之子的进攻舰队排列成了精准的圆锥形编队；当从太空中发动进攻时，舰队会形成一个三维的矛尖，使飞船展现给下方星球的船体面积达到最小，这极大降低了地面火力对攻击飞船的潜在伤害。但尽管如此，Ilium巢都自身也是防御精良，配备了数座火力相当于战列舰主炮的由反应堆进行供能的激光炮塔、成排的地对空导弹炮位，最关键的设施上还升起层叠的力场和虚空盾。而且就像所有巢城一样，其纯粹巨大的规模自身也是一种防御措施：巨大建筑结构具备着内在的韧性，这是其能够像为任何目的所建造的防御工事那样抵抗暴力的证据；数千公里长的公路和通道、居民楼、行政区域、制造工厂、广场和大厅也构成了一座能将全部军队整体吞没的迷宫。但对于荷鲁斯之子们而言，这种障碍只是（提供了）战争的乐趣；这支进攻舰队的主宰者正是军团第一连长艾泽克尔 阿巴顿，他在战列母舰“噬王者”号的舰桥上指挥着进攻，对他而言，Ilium代表了一件战利品——他决定将一次显著的胜利献给自己的原体。
As the spear tip descended into low orbit, the night skies around them became awash with varicoloured fire as the city's defence lasers found the attacking ships, blinding pulses of energy as bright as the noonday sun flashing from their void shields as the searing blasts struck home. In answer, the strike cruisers and battle barges let loose with a cannonade of their own, macro-shells and plasma bolts hammering down upon the city. Where the deadly meteors fell, the ground shook, power fields crackled with lightning and habitation blocks crumbled like sand, dooming those caught within. But this was no indiscriminate bombardment, and the strange method in Abaddon's plan of attack was soon apparent. Buildings collapsed, causeways shattered and great gouges were carved into the fabric of the city, but aside from probing for weaknesses in the heavy defence shields of the great ground batteries and the block fortresses, and leaping upon them where such weakness was found, the majority of the Traitors’ fire was falling not on military targets but on precise sections of the city's sprawl, smashing them flat. The ground barrage intensified and the strike cruiser Oblivion reeled under the counterfire, her own shields splitting, and was forced to pull away from the fury or topple to her death, but the work was done and the way was paved.
随着舰队矛尖下降进入了低空轨道，巢城的防御激光也发现了进攻舰船（并开火），舰队周围的夜空也被各种颜色的光焰所淹没。灼热的爆炸正中要害，如同正午艳阳那般明亮刺眼的能量脉冲撞在虚空盾上，闪烁出光芒。作为回应，打击巡洋舰们和战列母舰们还以炮击，宏炮炮弹和电浆弹砸向了巢城。在这些致命流星的坠落之处，地面震动，（防御）力场放出闪电劈啪作响，居民楼如同沙子般倒塌瓦解，困在其中的人们惨遭劫难。但这并非是肆意的狂轰滥炸，阿巴顿进攻计划中的奇怪手段很快就显露了出来。巢都中建筑物倒塌且堤道破碎，巢城的结构被炸开了巨大的沟壑；但是除了探查巨大的地面炮台与块状要塞的重型防御盾上的薄弱点，并且射击发现这些薄弱点的区域之外，叛军的大部分炮火都是落在了巢城外延区的明确分区而非军事目标上，这些区域被炸碎夷平了。地面的防御炮火加强，打击巡洋舰“湮灭”号在反击炮火中摇摇晃晃，她的虚空盾被撕裂开来。这艘飞船不得不远离了炮火，否则她就会被击落坠毁，但她已经完成了工作，并为后续进攻铺好了道路。
The Traitors' second wave came, descending through the firestorm. First the black, carrion crow shapes of the drop ships: massive Condor class Stormbirds, and their smaller, more agile Warhawk class brethren, relics as they were of the earliest wars of the Great Crusade. Then, outnumbering them, scores of the newer Thunderhawks and Storm Eagles wheeling and darting to avoid a hurricane of flak now rising up to greet them as they breached the lower atmosphere. The attack craft screamed down out of the fire and darkness, here and there some of their number exploded in blazing ruin as the spite of Hive Ilium's guns found them, but far too few to alter the course of what was about to happen. On reaching the skyline, the Sons of Horus craft broke off into strafing runs, roaring at breakneck speeds through the city's towering anificial canyons of Ferrocrete and adamantium, missiles streaming from wing pods, cannon blazing as they found their targets. Power junctions were blasted to fragments, flak weapons silenced, auspex antenna severed and defence domes blown open. As the heavy firepower of the Stormbirds and Thunderhawks was unleased against Hive Ilium's defences at point blank range, horrified silence fell in the watching amphitheatre of the Palace of Light. No-one present could escape the realisation that every attack had been perfectly plotted, every field of fire anticipated, every gun-site and concealed power node known to the attackers before a blow had been struck.Like so many before them in this bitter civil war, not yet three years old, the defenders of Manachea had been betrayed.
叛军的第二波进攻（部队）也穿过火焰风暴降临到了地表。首先是状如腐尸乌鸦的黑色空降艇们：巨大的秃鹰型风暴鸟与更小型也更灵活的战鹰型风暴鸟，它们是（来自）大远征最初期战争中的遗物。之后是数量超过他们的新型雷鹰和风暴鹰，在突破低空大气层时，这数十艘炮艇盘旋和俯冲着以躲避飓风般迎面袭来的高射炮弹。突袭的炮艇们嚎叫着冲过炮火与黑暗，尽管它们当中有一些会在各处被Ilium巢都防御炮所射出的凶猛炮火击中，爆炸为燃烧着的残骸，但数量太过稀少，远不足以改变即将发生的事情。一经抵达巢都天际线，荷鲁斯之子的飞艇便开始扫射，以极快的速度咆哮着冲过巢城中由钢筋混凝土和精金构成的高耸人造峡谷，当发现目标时，便从机翼弹舱中射出导弹，用机炮进行射击。动力枢纽站被炸成碎片，高射武器沉寂下来，鸟卜仪天线遭到切断，防御穹顶也被炸开。在风暴鸟和雷鹰炮艇在近距离朝着Ilium巢都的防御释放出沉重火力的同时，可怕的寂静降临在了光之宫殿的观景圆厅中。在场的众人全都无法逃避这些事实：荷鲁斯之子的每一次进攻都是完美策划过的，袭击者们在发动进攻之前就每一片预期中的交火区域，以及所有的射击点和隐藏的能量节点。就像很多在他们之前被卷入这场（持续时间）至今不满三年的苦涩内战中的人们那样，Manachea的防御者们遭到了背叛。
The silence of the amphitheatre was broken by fresh outcries of alarm and urgent requests for aid as new reports began to stream in; the Sons of Horus had made footfall, and already the blood was flowing. The vast fortified dome-complexes that housed the defence lasers were among the Legiones Astartes' first targets, waves of jet-pack equipped Assault squads peeling off from the drop ships to attack them from the air, while Despoilers and Reavers leapt from the armoured maws of the Thunderhawks as they hovered perilously close to the defenders’ ramparts, braving a fury of ground fire as they did so. Here, at the fortified bastions and cannon-domes, the Solar Auxilia stood their ground against the attackers. While each one of them, as an unmodified human, was no match for a Legiones Astartes in the press of battle, their discipline was iron. They fought in tight, ordered patterns, forming firing ladders to maintain a steady stream of rapid fire against the armoured monsters that came for them in the dark. Against such relentless fusillades even Space Marine power armour was not entirely proof as las-bolts found chinks and vulnerabilities, piercing eye-lenses and burning through suit joints. But where the Sons of Horus crashed into the line, all was a carnage of whirling chainblades and bodies torn asunder. Despite the valour of the Solar Auxilia, one by one the great defence lasers went dark and fired no more.
新传来的警报与紧急求援的呼喊声打破了圆厅中的寂静——新的报告开始涌入；荷鲁斯之子们已经在步行前进了，守军在与他们进行血战。安置着防御激光炮塔的巨大加固型穹顶综合体是阿斯塔特军团的首批进攻目标之一，数波装备着喷射背包的突击小队从空降艇中跳出，由空中发动进攻。顶着地面炮火的猛烈进攻，雷鹰炮艇危险地盘旋着接近守军的壁垒，同时掠夺者和劫掠者部队从炮艇的装甲船腹中一跃而出。驻守此地的太阳军们坚守阵地，在加固过的要塞和火炮穹顶中抵御着来犯之敌。尽管太阳军士兵们都是未接受过改造的凡人，在战斗的高压之下无法与阿斯塔特军团战士相匹敌，但他们有着铁一般的纪律。他们以紧密有序地进行着战斗，组成射击梯队来保持稳定的快速射击流，以此来对抗那些从黑暗中向他们袭来的装甲怪物。面对如此无情的连续射击，哪怕星际战士们的动力甲也并非是绝对安全的——因为光弹击中了动力甲上面的裂缝和薄弱处，击穿了目镜和烧穿了动力甲的关节处。但当荷鲁斯之子们冲入太阳军的队列中时，发生的便只有屠杀，到处都是旋转的链锯刃和被撕碎的尸体。尽管太阳军英勇抵抗，但强大的防御激光炮塔还是一座接一座得哑火，最终不再发射。
Where the hardened veterans of the Auxilia Tercios had offered strong resistance to the Son of Horus, the conscript militia units which haltingly engaged them offered little, and here the scions of the Warmaster tore into the militia platoons like the wolves they had once used as a namesake set loose amid a caged flock. But yet the tide might be turned for the defenders of Manachea, for in their lightning assault the Sons of Horus had stirred up a hornet's nest, and even now armoured columns of lumbering battle tanks by the hundred were stirring from sub-surface vaults, and thousands of fresh troops were streaming up from their bunkers to make good a counter-attack. Against such overmatching numbers and weight of fire even the Sons of Horus spear tip had no chance of standing alone in open battle, but then it had never intended to.
辅助军步兵团中久经沙场的老兵们顽强抵抗着荷鲁斯之子们，而征召兵组成的民兵部队只能与星际战士们勉强交战，收效甚微。战帅的子嗣们如同出笼的恶狼那般冲向民兵排——荷鲁斯之子们也（确实）曾以狼作为自己的名称。但对于Manachea的守军们来说，形势也可能会转向他们一方——荷鲁斯之子的闪电进攻捅进了马蜂窝，哪怕是现在，数百辆沉重缓慢的战斗坦克所组成的装甲编队也在从地下驶出，数千支部队正从地堡中涌出以进行一次出色的反攻。面对超出自身如此之多的的敌军数量和火力，哪怕是荷鲁斯之子的矛尖部队也没有机会在公开战斗中独自撑住，但他们也不打算这样做。
With the majority of the ground defence batteries negated, the night skies above Hive Ilium shivered and boiled anew as the third wave of the attack came. Forcing brutal passageways through the air with a shrieking roar that drowned out even the cacophony of battle below, fifteen great orbs of fire seemed to hang above the city like new suns. The orbs slammed down into the blasted landing zones that had been prepared for them and the ground shook for kilometres in each direction. The cyclopean doors of the vast drop ships, still glowing with the embers of their arrival, rent open, and the Titans of the accursed and treacherous division of the Legio Tempestus strode forth, and before them through the dust and smoke, their searchlights stabbing forth defiantly against the darkness, the armoured might of the Solar Auxilia came defiantly to meet their challenge. Hundreds of Leman Russ, their engines straining and bleaching heat, arced out to the flanks, encircling the landing zones, while through the centre of the armoured wave, scores of Malcador heavy tanks formed up in echelon before the Auxilia's most powerful units: Baneblades and Shadowswords in the winter-white and sapphire livery of the Excertus Imperialis Ultima, while behind them Basilisk artillery squadrons were already striking up their deadly thunder. Their void shields already crackling under the growing fury of the bombardment, the Legio Tempestus advanced. The Warlord Titan, Agrippa, towering far above the ant-like tanks which dared to challenge it, let howl its war siren and the chorus was taken up by the score of God-machines now treading the rubble of Hive Ilium to dust behind it. Kilometres away, eardrums burst and windows shattered. Agrippa then raised its gargantuan plasma annihilatorand banished the night in white- hot sun fire.
随着大部分地面防御炮台失效，Ilium巢都上方的夜空再次颤抖和沸腾起来——叛军的第三波进攻来了。空降船们在空中强行开辟出一条残酷的通路，其降落时发出的尖锐噪音甚至盖过了下方战斗的嘈杂声响，那十五颗巨大的火球看起来就如同高悬在巢城上空的新生太阳。这些火球猛得撞进了荷鲁斯之子炸平的区域——这是为它们准备好的降落场，各个方向上数公里外的区域都被震得摇晃。庞大的空降船敞开了巨大的舱门——船身仍然发着抵达过程中产生的余烬般的暗红光，从中阔步走出的是属于暴风军团那该被诅咒的叛变分支的泰坦们。而在它们面前，探照灯光挑衅般地刺破黑暗，穿透烟尘——太阳军的装甲力量无畏地前来应战。数百辆黎曼鲁斯战斗坦克的引擎高度运转并散发着热量，他们以弧状队形驶向空降船两翼，包围了登陆区；数十辆马卡多重型坦克排成梯队前进，其后跟着辅助军部队中最强大的单位：喷涂着Ultima帝国辅助军部队的冰白和蓝宝石配色的毒刃与影剑超重型坦克；而在他们身后，石化蜥蜴炮兵中队们已经开始发射出致命的雷霆了。风暴军团继续前进着，太阳军不断增强的炮击轰炸令它们的虚空盾噼啪作响。高大的战将泰坦“阿格里帕”号俯视着这些胆敢挑战自己的蚂蚁般的坦克们，它拉响了战争汽笛，数十台神之机械也一同发出合鸣，他们跟在阿格里帕号身后大步向前，将Ilium巢都的瓦砾碾为尘土。巨大的声音让数公里之外的人们耳膜破裂，建筑物窗户破碎。阿格里帕号抬起自己巨大的电浆歼灭炮，喷出一团如同太阳般白热的电浆火球，黑夜都被其亮光所驱散。
The Ravens
渡鸦
At the same hour that the first footfalls of the Titans were sounding at Hive Ilium on Manachea.at Port Maw open void war had now erupted between those ships that had turned fully traitor and those who had remained loyal, while all across the artificial planetoid station below them, civil war was being waged with bloody conviction. The Traitors’ plan had proved only partly effective in conquering the Loyalist fleet from within or forcing its surrender, and now the malign influence radiating from the Mechanicum Panopticon had been ended, the Loyalists were rapidly gaining strength.
就在泰坦们的第一阵脚步声响彻了Manachea世界上的Ilium巢都的同时，在巨口港宙域处，那些完全叛变的飞船与仍旧忠诚的飞船之间爆发了一场公开的虚空战争；而舰队下方的人造小行星空间站中，忠诚派和叛军双方也正在以血腥的信念进行着内战。叛军（想要）从内部征服忠诚派舰队或令其投降的计划已经被证明只是部分奏效，机械神教控制圆厅中散发出的恶意影响现在已经被终结了，忠诚派在快速获取兵力。
After the bloody and chaotic skirmish, those warships that remained mobile had broken away and parted into two battle lines, forming thousand kilometre-long crescent formations mirroring each other in orbit round the Maw, each now staying their range and keeping the bulk of the artificial planetoid between them and the enemy as they manoeuvred to form up. Around them hundreds of wrecks and stricken ships cascaded, reeling with damage or drifting paralysed as bloody struggles raged on within them for control. Neither force had such overwhelming superiority yet that a direct attack on the other would guarantee victory without severe losses, but both knew that to attempt to flee —to turn away from the enemy and run— would be to secede the entire strategically vital star system and all it contained to the enemy. The fate of Port Maw and its vast armada hovered on a knife edge.
在血腥且混乱的遭遇战之后，那些仍能移动的战舰们分散开并分排成了两条战列线，双方都形成了数公里长的新月型编队，在巨口港的轨道上对峙着。现在每艘船都保持着自己的距离，它们移动着进行队列编组，并让人造小行星的大部分星体挡在自己与敌人之间。而在它们周边还悬垂着数百具残骸与被击毁的舰船——其内部曾为夺取控制权而进行过血腥战斗，结果导致飞船受到损伤，或者瘫痪后悬在虚空中。双方现在都没有压倒性的优势，都无法做到在直接进攻中不遭受严重损失就确保胜利;但双方也都明白：（现在）企图避开敌军并逃跑就是将整个在战略上至关重要的恒星系与其中包含的一切拱手让于敌人。巨口港及其庞大舰队的命运悬于一线。
As the two battle lines fell into a deadlock, from the darkness of the outer system came a new and unexpected threat. The dark fleet answered no hails, broadcast no identification cyphers, but came hurtling on at near relativistic speeds like a dagger hurled at the heart of Port Maw. In the Strategium of the gargantuan Loyalist flagship, Triumph of Reason, Grand Admiral LaBray waited impatiently as his sensorium officers strained their auspexes to get a firm repon on the incoming fleet. Some form of masking technology was being employed that scattered and defused the scanning beams, making a definite fix on the vessels impossible to attain. LaBray likely knew, as many of his rank did, of the rumours of such arcane devices being employed by the secretive Raven Guard Legion—a Legion which remained loyal, but was reported destroyed at Isstvan V. Could this be a Raven Guard splinter fleet, the survivors of that cataclysmic battle? If so, why did they not answer, why did they not identify themselves? These questions could not be readily answered. But however effectively their true nature was shrouded from LaBray's fleet auspexes, while operating at such intense acceleration, their engines burning bright with plasma thrust, they could not hide their number; there were twenty vessels by their drive flares, at least half of which were capital class by his savants' estimations, meaning LaBray's own fleet outnumbered the interlopers by a margin of four to one. It was a force which alone he could overwhelm, but if it joined with the mass of the enemy now matching him in orbit on the other side of Port Maw, would likely tip the balance in the Traitors’ favour. Without hesitation LaBray gave the order, and the vast crescent of his armada turned and began to arc toward the stranger-fleet on an intercept vector, their own engines burning bright.
就在双方战列线陷入僵局时，一股意想不到的全新威胁从恒星系外侧黑暗空间到达此地。这支黑暗的舰队没有回应呼叫，也没有广播身份识别密码，但却以近相对论的速度飞驰而来，就像一把刺向了巨口港心脏的匕首。在巨大的忠诚派旗舰——“理性胜利”号上的战情室中，海军上将拉布雷在不耐烦得等待着，负责获取战场信息的军官把鸟卜仪调到大功率来确认那支新到舰队的身份。对方采用了某种掩蔽技术来散射和化解扫描光束，这让鸟卜仪不可能对这些舰船进行精准定位。就像他的许多同事一样，拉布雷很可能也知道神秘的暗鸦守卫军团正在使用此类神秘设备的传言——该军团仍旧忠于帝国，但根据报告，他们已经在伊斯特万五号被摧毁。这会是暗鸦守卫军团舰队的残军，逃出那场灾难般战斗的幸存者吗？但倘若如此的话，他们又为何不回复呼叫，不表明自己的身份？这是些难以回答的问题。尽管拉布雷舰队的鸟卜仪都探测不出这群闯入者的真实本质，但在飞船们的引擎燃烧着明亮的等离子推进尾焰、以极高的速度航行着的情况下，这支舰队的舰船数量是无法被隐藏的；从引擎尾焰来看，这支舰队中有二十艘飞船，根据拉布雷手下舰船专家的推测其中只是有一半是主力级别的战舰，这意味着拉布雷自己麾下的舰船数量是闯入者数量的四倍。拉布雷依靠自身力量就能压倒性击败这支舰队，但如同它们与处在巨口港另一侧轨道上与忠诚派力量相匹敌的敌军汇合，战争的天平可能就会向着对叛军有利的一侧倾斜。拉布雷毫不犹豫地下了命令，他那支庞大的新月形舰队转过身，点亮了自己的引擎，开始沿拦截矢量向那支陌生舰队驶去。
The distance closed, thousands of kilometres flashing by in mere seconds, and behind the Loyalists the Traitor fleet followed suit, but it would be LaBray's ships that met the newcomers first, that was now inevitable. The minutes ticked by until it was reported that the incoming ships were now close enough to be within visual range of the flagships occularis, and LaBray immediately ordered the image up before him. It was only then that he realised the depth of his mistake. The vanguard of the incoming fleet were indeed Legiones Astartes battle barges of the Raven Guard, or at least had been; two modified Dagon class grand cruisers bearing the sable heraldry of Corax's Legion now torn and burned in the fires of battle, but what came after them was not of the Raven Guard. The monster rose up behind the battle barges, making them seem as mere frigates in comparison to its nightmare magnitude. It was a ship no Imperial captain could ever have failed to recognise at first glance, it was a war machine few vessels could ever hope to match, but what its presence portended was darker still. It was the Vengeful Spirit; it was the flagship of Horus.
双方距离越来越近，数千公里在短短几秒钟内一闪而过，叛军舰队也紧随在忠诚派身后，但拉布雷的舰队会不可避免地首先遇到这支新出现的舰队。时间一分一秒地过去，直到“理性胜利”号的船员报道称来袭的战舰已经足够接近，进入了旗舰显像镜的可视范围内，拉布雷立刻下令把获取的图像展示在自己面前。这时他才知道自己对这支舰队的误判有多么严重。来袭舰队的先锋确实是暗鸦守卫阿斯塔特军团的战列母舰，或者至少曾经是；两艘经过改造的达贡级超大型巡洋舰上也带有克拉克斯军团的黑色纹章，它们现在被战火所撕裂和烧伤；而跟在它们身后的舰船则并不属于暗鸦守卫军团。战列母舰后方，那只钢铁怪兽现出了身形，相比于它噩梦般的尺寸，战列母舰看起来都只是护卫舰而已。它是所有帝国船长第一眼就能认出的飞船，也是只有极少数飞船才能与之匹敌战争机器，但它的出现预示着更黑暗的局面。它是复仇之魂，荷鲁斯本人的旗舰。
